Skilled temporary and permanent immigrants in the United States

The US temporary migration system is closely intertwined with the permanent system. First, this paper defines the various temporary and permanent admi ssion categories. It presents available statistics on the occupations of te mporary migrants upon admission and upon adjustment to permanent residency, especially since the Immigration Act of 1990 went into effect in 1992. The re has been a sizable increase in the number of temporary workers over the past few years and those who adjust from specialty workers (H-1B) and intra company transferee (L) have increased the overall skill composition of perm anent immigrants. Secondly, the paper reviews the literature on the labor m arket impact of temporary migrants in academics and in the private sector. While there are marked concentrations of foreign-born workers among the col lege educated and especially Ph.D.s, the literature raises concerns but doe s not establish adverse effects (wage differentials, unemployment, etc.). T here is, however, reason for some concern given trends in the postdoctoral labor market and for employers in 'job shops' who undercut US workers with temporary workers.